Nearly Monthly News: The October 2022 Spooky Edition!
Welcome to October's spooooky Nearly Monthly News!
When I was a kid, I loved Halloween. This is true in spite of the fact that I was very good at coming up with costumes NO ONE recognized. Admittedly, I have been a fan of the deep cut from an early age. Could my neighbors be blamed for not recognizing Ozma of Oz when she showed up on their doorsteps? Perhaps not, but it was still disappointing.
So, a couple years later, I decided to embrace the classics and dressed up as Dorothy. I had a blue and white checked gingham dress, silver shoes (because I had read the book, darn it), and I carried a basket with three stuffed animals dressed up as the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.
(Note 1: To this day, my mother insists that she is not crafty. I maintain that the mane she crocheted around the head of a small yellow stuffed dog begs to differ.)
(Note 2: My costumes were not always Oz-themed, for the record.)
However, in spite of my meticulous preparations, that year the neighbors opened their doors, saw me and said, "Oh! A farm girl!" Which, while technically correct, is not appreciably more accurate than saying, "Oh! A costume!"
I'm pretty sure that was the moment I decided that if people couldn't recognize Dorothy Gail when I was practically wearing a name tag, maybe I shouldn't worry so much about whether people could recognize my costume.
There's probably a metaphor to be found in here somewhere about authorial intent vs. reader-reception, but—as I read over the notes I just got back on the latest draft of this animated special—I'm going to focus instead on quality vs. applause.
Embarking on a creative endeavor in the hope that it will pay off when someone else appreciates your work is—as we said in The Middleman writers' room—the devil's candy. Tempting and occasionally delicious, but unlikely to end well. The audience is fickle and perhaps not paying all that much attention. But if you're proud of your work, at least you've made one person happy.
From my Desk
I'm about to wrap up (knock on wood) my current TV assignment, and then the plan is to focus on development and some of my own projects for the next couple of months. I have several short stories that have been languishing in the "needs a just one or two more passes" stage, and that I'd like to get them off my desk before 2023. I'm also hoping to use National Novel Writing Month to bang out a rough draft of a spec feature script I've been wanting to write.
On the fiction front: November 1, "Observations of a Small Object in Decaying Orbit" drops in the Nov/Dec issue of Apex! I hope you get the chance to go check it out. I'm very proud of this story, but it's not a happy one, so read with care. (CW: death, civil unrest and political violence, bullying)
What I'm Reading
It's gotten cool enough, even in Los Angeles, to walk outside during daylight hours, and a recent jaunt to the local library led me to pick up Pastoral Song by James Rebanks from the "new and shiny" shelf. I've been enjoying the read as the weather turns toward fall. All Creatures Great and Small through the lens of Silent Spring.
From the Cutting Room Floor of the Duolingo Dystopia
This month, Duolingo knows you have a choice in carriers for your upcoming holiday travel and encourages you to consider Duolingo Air.
Caption: Lin from Duolingo says, "The pilot went out through the emergency exit," in English and French.
And That's the Nearly Monthly News!
What was your most under-appreciated Halloween costume? Gearing up for NaNoWriMo? Drop me a line and tell me about it! Until we meet again, may your journeys be free of pilots pulling a D.B. Cooper. See you in November!